Math Using a four step model for math problem solving has been successful in many ways. Each step was taught individually and then the importance of all the steps together became the next goal. As many of the students were not reading at a high enough level to independently read the problems, I continued to read the problems to the majority of the students. The children learned to underline the numbers in the problem and listen for key-words and phrases (e.g. How many in all? How many more? How many fewer?) These key phrases were an excellent way to differentiate and challenge students who had mastered the simpler problems. The simplest problems involved primarily “How many in all?” where the student was solving for the “whole” in a …show more content…
Attending the Greg Tang math workshop was a wonderful opportunity and much of what I learned has been implemented into my practice. Math in Focus and Greg Tang together both stress the importance of understanding math using three tiers. We start with concrete materials to better explain math understanding, this is followed by encouraging pictorial representation and finally abstract numerals and symbols. I have 2 students who still rely on concrete materials to solve simple problems. In the pictorial questions, I stressed the importance of replacing detailed pictures with simple shapes to solve a problem. This is a typical kindergarten issue, the students can become more focused on drawing the cats and dogs in the math story than actually answering the problem. I am pleased that all of the students have made progress in this area and we do not color or add details to the math pictures. This sends a confusing message and takes away from the task at hand. Finally, I am looking for students to begin adding a number sentence to practice the abstract aspect of the solution. I find that many (NUMBER) are able to do this with an addition sentence but a subtraction sentence is much more
Prekindergarten instructional games and activities can be used to increase the students understanding of number invariance. Using dice games, rectangular arrays, and number puzzles would be an effective method of presenting subitizing to this grade level. In addition to visual pattern, these young students would benefit from auditory and kinesthetic patterns as well.
Van de Walle, J., , F., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2010). Elementary and middle school mathematics, teaching developmentally. (Seventh ed.). New York, NY: Allyn & Bacon.
As an employee of County Community College, I teach an Adult Basic Skills Numeracy class. I originally started the academic year with 18 learners, but by April 2015 I had approximately 6 learners per session. Most learners are female, of Afro-Caribbean or African origin and aged between 20 and 50 years. It has been suggested that many learners see numeracy as a male domain (Cemen, 1987; Gutbezahl, 1995; Levine, 1995; Miller et al, 1994) and I have noticed that I teach predominantly female learners who are particularly shy and have low self esteem. They are also full of self doubt and lack confidence in their mathematical ability and some do not see numeracy as a useful subject when compared to literacy. To some it is just a means to an end and not something to learn for the sake of self-improvement.
All children learn differently and teachers, especially those who teach mathematics, have to accommodate all children’s different capacities for learning information. When teaching mathematics, a teacher has to be able to use various methods of presenting the information in order to help the students understand the concepts they are being taught. Most teachers in the past have taught mathematics through procedural lessons. Procedural lessons consist of having the students work with a concept over and over again until it is memorized. For example, children could be given homework assignments with the equation three times five over and over again until that equation is memorized.
4. First, start with multiplication and show an example of how to make an equivalent fraction. Remind students that what we do to the top we must do to the bottom (signal hands up….hands down)
The career-ready mathematical process standard number two states that students will be able to reason both contextually and abstractly. Process standard 2(a) asks students to make sense of quantities and their relationships in mathematical and real-world situations. The quantity discussed in this video is the amount of marshmallows needed for the students to all have enough to roast on their class camping trip. The problem itself is a real world situation that will have consequences for the student’s themselves. If the estimate a low number of marshmallow bags to bring on the trip some of them will still be hungry, if the number they estimate is too high then they will most likely have to many left over to eat. Standard 2(d) states that the student will be able to evaluate the success of an approach to solving a problem and refine it if necessary. When the children split up into groups to manipulate the marshmallow in their bags some student’s had remainders. When they discovered that everyone could not have and the equal amount they devised several solutions. One group of student’s suggested that anyone who wanted more than four marshmallows to get the remained, another group asked that the remaining marshmallows be cut in half and divided between everyone else in the group. The third mathematical process standard asks that students use critical thinking skills to justify mathematical reasoning and critiques the reasoning of others. Standard 3(a) states that students will construct and justify a solution to a problem. Toward the end of the video the children elected a spokesperson to present their answer and the children debated the amount of marshmallow bags they would need for their camping
Prior to teaching the concept, I asked the educator if her students would benefit and she expressed how much this skill would benefit them. She teaches math in the classroom if students are struggling with
Children can enhance their understanding of difficult addition and subtraction problems, when they learn to recognize how the combination of two or more numbers demonstrate a total (Fuson, Clements, & Beckmann, 2011). As students advance from Kindergarten through second grade they learn various strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems. The methods can be summarize into three distinctive categories called count all, count on, and recompose (Fuson, Clements, & Beckmann, 2011). The strategies vary faintly in simplicity and application. I will demonstrate how students can apply the count all, count on, and recompose strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems involving many levels of difficulty.
Mathematical dialogue within the classroom has been argued to be effective and a ‘necessary’ tool for children’s development in terms of errors and misconceptions. It has been mentioned how dialogue can broaden the children’s perception of the topic, provides useful opportunities to develop meaningful understandings and proves a good assessment tool. The NNS (1999) states that better numeracy standards occur when children are expected to use correct mathematical vocabulary and explain mathematical ideas. In addition to this, teachers are expected
Assessment plays an integral part of the teaching and learning process by providing teachers with information on students’ developing mathematical capabilities (Booker, Bond, Sparrow, & Swan, 2010; Reys et al., 2012). Assessment is a daily requirement within the primary school context and when properly developed and interpreted can be used positively to encourage students, provide information to direct and modify teaching and learning activities, provide feedback to students about progress and contribute to reporting (Department of Education and Early Childhood Development [DEECD], 2009; Junpeng, 2012; New South Wales Department of Education and Communities, 2011). This essay will examine formative and summative assessment strategies teachers
When I enrolled into Math for Elementary Teachers I knew for sure that is was going to be an easy class, but was I wrong. Elementary math has changed a lot since I was in elementary school, which was a complete shock to me. I was taught the procedural way, or as I like to call “lazy way,” and now students are being taught the conceptual way. I never heard of the conceptual way of teaching until taking this course, but I have to say I like this way a lot better than the procedural way. In the beginning I was scared about teaching elementary math because I thought I would never understand math the way students do now. After weeks of learning the conceptual way, I have to say I am finally understanding and I more confident about teaching elementary math.
I believe that learning mathematics in the early childhood environment encourages and promotes yet another perspective for children to establish and build upon their developing views and ideals about the world. Despite this belief, prior to undertaking this topic, I had very little understanding of how to recognise and encourage mathematical activities to children less than four years, aside from ‘basic’ number sense (such as counting) and spatial sense (like displaying knowledge of 2-D shapes) (MacMillan 2002). Despite enjoying mathematical activities during my early years at a Montessori primary school, like the participants within Holm & Kajander’s (2012) study, I have since developed a rather apprehensive attitude towards mathematics, and consequently, feel concerned about encouraging and implementing adequate mathematical learning experiences to children within the early childhood environment.
Kirova, A., & Bhargava, A. (2002). Learning to guide preschool children's mathematical understanding: A teacher's professional growth. 4 (1), Retrieved from http://ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/kirova.html
...S. and Stepelman, J. (2010). Teaching Secondary Mathematics: Techniques and Enrichment Units. 8th Ed. Merrill Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
As with every academic subject, there are a variety of strategies for teaching mathematics to school-aged students. Some strategies seem to be better than others, especially when tackling certain topics. There is the direct instruction approach where students are given the exact tools and formulas they need to solve a problem, sometimes without a clear explanation as to why. The student is told to do certain steps in a certain order and in turn expects to do them as such at all times. This leaves little room for solving varying types of problems. It can also lead to misconceptions and students may not gain the full understanding that their teachers want them to have. So how can mathematics teachers get their students to better understand the concepts that are being taught?